WOW, had one of those days that reminds me of when I was just getting started in ministry in Ar. in the late 70’s when coming back home from Ft. Worth… I would either drive or even occasionally take a bus and go from deep S/W Ar. in Columbia County in Magnolia and drive through the small towns and ask the Lord, “Is this where you want me to stop or get off the bus?”
I remember leaving early one Sunday morning and stopping at Malvern and the bus station was next door to a “store-front” church building. A big smiling and jolly fellow was walking down the side-walk about the time I was getting out, and it was as if he was expecting me! Jack said, “Are you here for service?” And I said, “I believe this is where the Spirit of God led me!” He smiled and took me in to meet His wife, Doris, I believe, and she was the pastor!! She said, “I told you, Jack, he was coming, this is the one I saw in my dream last night!”
They took me right in, preached that morning and night, came back Monday, back Tuesday night, Wed. night and so on till it was all week! They took me into their home and the relationship continued back and forth for a couple of years. Went to N/W Ar. to Siloam Springs to Bro. Estes church, the Lighthouse, I believe, where Pastor Tim Estes, was just a young boy. Crisscrossed to N/E Ar. to Jonesboro to Bishop Robert Jones, Pastor Ken Jones, and great worship with Jimmy Jones at (Ephesus) Church of God and preached for them till we moved to La. in the early 90’s! (Of course, a lot of that when I was single, before I met Pam and we married; but we’ve done a lot of it too, including crossing the “Big Pond” and going to London and Dublin, Ireland, as well as on our first trip overseas, to Abuja, Nigeria….)
How many remember playing softball and having the “ROVING” player, the one who played from shallow left field across center, to right field, deep short stop, etc. I was the “ROVER” growing up, and those early years of travelling across Arkansas as a “spiritual rover” prepared me for apostolic ministry today! That’s where I learned to ‘love the brethren’, encourage pastors and leaders, sitting up with Bishop Jones all night the first night we would get to their house to start a meeting, drinking coffee and “revelating” in the word till dawn… Sorry, I was born in ZION…
Back to my story: I was up all last night and had some incredible encounters in the Spirit and this morning I knew I was supposed to be a “ROVER” across N/E Houston all the way down to Goodrich, stopping in Cleveland and Shepherd and seeing some awesome confirmations that “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God…”
Everything had changed for Thanksgiving week when I got sick early Tuesday morning and we didn’t get to go home… I felt totally empty and dead for about three days, but Thursday night into Friday morning into friday night into Saturday morning, the Father ministered word after word to individuals, pastors and leaders, relational ministry couples, and great talks on the telephone, especially enjoyed the 45 min. convo with Prophet Michael Fram!!!
Then a text from Pastor Kevin around noon when I was still in Humble about an totally different subject when we started talking about December coming to the church and then he said, “You can come tomorrow if you want to…” Well, after several stops and visits, around 5:30 while in Goodrich, he text me again, and said, “is it going to work out?” And I said, “I think it is, Pam and I are coming with a special couple that have moved to Goodrich looking for a church in the Livingston area, and BAM, it’s been on since!”
I got home about 8:00 tonight and well, the “rest of the story” tomorrow night…. Good night and blessings….
James Becton Ministries/ EaglesVision EKKLESIA! 